ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Place names in India

Okay kiddo, do you know what a name is? It's a word we use to call someone or something. Like your name is your special word that people use to call you. In India, there are so many different places like cities, villages, and towns. Just like people have names, these places also have names.

Now, some place names are very simple and easy to understand. For example, if a place is near a river, it might be called "Riverbank". But some place names can be tricky to understand because they come from an old language called Sanskrit.

Sanskrit is an ancient language that has been spoken in India for thousands of years. Many Indian place names come from Sanskrit words. For example, the city of Delhi comes from the Sanskrit word "Dehleez" which means threshold or entrance. Another example is the city of Hyderabad; it comes from the Sanskrit words "Haydar" and "Abad" which together mean "lion city".

Some Indian place names also come from the names of people who lived there a long time ago. For instance, Mumbai is named after the goddess Mumbadevi who was worshipped by the original inhabitants of the area. Similarly, Chennai is named after a local fisherman named Chennappa.

So, you see kiddo, there are many different ways that place names are created in India. Some come from nature, some from old languages, and some from the people who lived there. That's what makes Indian place names unique and interesting!